By holding President Rajapaksa guilty for what all had gone wrong in terms of human rights on Wanni War front, Fonseka is cleverly diverting attention away from his own record. As the army commander, who led the forces from the front, he cannot escape blame for brutalities that were heaped on unarmed civilians and persecution that the surrendering Tigers were made to face.

In the interview, Fonseka has asked people to ‘rise up’ and ‘over throw the government’. He did slip in the caveat that the overthrow should be ‘by democratic methods’.

Denouncing his former political master is one thing and asking regime over throw is another.  From the tone and tenor of what the former army commander says, the call is no more than rhetoric in nature and he himself doesn’t believe in the possibility of an uprising.

Yes, Sri Lanka can witness another uprising – not from the suffering people of the country, whom the General Fonseka is keen to cultivate for his next political incarnation but from the ethnic minorities, who are yet to be assured of a fair deal long months after the three-decade long civil war had ended.

Students of history know that the civil war the country was dragged into was an off-shoot of state patronised and state prompted discrimination of an ethnic minority in all walks of life. In a broad sense, the government in Colombo seems to be short-sighted as before.

Fonseka, now that he has become a full-fledged politician, has an opportunity to let the nation correct a historical wrong. He should utilise his ‘base’ to bridge the South-North divide by helping the country to free itself from the so called Southern consensus, which is no more than an euphemism for political opportunism promoted by certain vested interests in the country.

This is an historic opportunity that beckons the former general.

Is he ready to shoulder the responsibility? The short answer to the question is in the negative in the near term.

People will respect and accept a leader, who mixes with them, shares their sorrows and joys and works with them shoulder –to-shoulder.  

Mahinda Rajapaksa, whatever be his follies, has worked amongst the people and moved up the political ladder by presenting Mahinda Chintana as his blue print for a glorious future.   He is not lilywhite but when he asked the Tamils to vote for him in his second Presidential bid which he made after crushing the Tamil Tigers, the war ravaged North responded to him as one person and rooted for him.  

This Tamil vote for Rajapaksa was not out of fear in the post-war period but an expression of simple trust in the leadership of a politician, who appeared to rise above narrow considerations of ethnicity and majoritarianism.

What happened after the ballot and whether the ‘People’s President’ has lived upto the hype are issues for a separate debate.

In the limited context of  Gen Fonseka’s call for an uprising, it is necessary to point out that generals who have no respect for the political process or who revel in calling Tamil politicians across the Palk Straits as jokers are ill-equipped to grasp the opportunities that appear to be tantalisingly close at hand.

Politics is a demanding profession even if it is dubbed as the last refuge of a scoundrel. Politics is a profession that doesn’t guarantee success and one victory doesn’t make a summer since politics demands accountability from its practitioners once in every four-five years.

Gen Fonseka, who had found himself hoisted at the head of Sri Lankan army to lead the campaign against the Tamil Tigers because of his close association with the Rajapaksa brothers, must do some introspection. And own up his own share of the misdeeds, and reinvent himself to start a new innings that will test his stamina but guarantees no assured returns.

Alanaskar’s dreams are no good in any season.